1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to structures which can be used in reactions wherein the reaction and distillation of the reaction system are carried on concurrently using the structures as both catalyst for the reaction and as distillation structures.
2. Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,011 discloses a plurality of closed cloth pockets containing a particulate catalytic material arranged and supported by wire mesh. U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,052 discloses distillation packing structure consisting of a sulfonated cation resin.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,232,177 and 4,242,530 disclose the use of such structures for various catalytic reaction processes. U.S. Pat. No. 2,403,672 functionally states that the catalyst serves as the packing material in the column to fractionate the reaction products, however, no indication of the physical means to obtain this is disclosed.